Southeastern NEWS

                                                       Southeastern Louisiana University
                                           Public Information Office
                                           publicinfo@selu.edu
                                           SLU 10880, Hammond, LA 70402
                                           985/549-2341/fax 985-549-2061
    Date: 3/8/02
      Contact:                           Christina Chapple 25A

Editors: Photo accompanies release   Please note local interest
SLU BRINGS TENNESSEE WILLIAMS FESTIVAL TO NORTH SHORE WITH PLAY,
READINGS
     HAMMOND -- Southeastern Louisiana University, a long-time sponsor of the Tennessee
Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival, is bringing the popular festival to the north shore with
the premier of a new production of "Suddenly Last Summer" and two readings by critically
acclaimed authors.
     An auxiliary event to the main festival which will be held March 20-24 in New Orleans,
the Tennessee Williams Festival on the North Shore will sponsor the first performances of the
Dog & Pony Theatre Company's production of Williams' "Suddenly Last Summer" on March
16-17 and the readings on March 21 and March 25. 
     Scheduled for the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts at 7:30 p.m. on March 16,
and 3 p.m. on March 17, "Suddenly Last Summer" will also be presented at the Contemporary
Arts Center in New Orleans during the festival and in April at the Mandeville Trailhead
Amphitheatre.
     Tickets for the performances at the Columbia are available at the theater box office, 314
E. Thomas Street, 985-543-4371, from noon to 5 p.m. on weekdays and can be ordered online
through TicketWeb at www.ticketweb.com.
     A short play, "Suddenly Last Summer" explores the spellbinding relationship between an
institutionalized young woman and her family as they struggle to confront and deny truth. 
Catharine Holly has witnessed an unbelievably shocking death, and is to undergo a lobotomy
unless she recants her story regarding her cousin's gruesome end in a Mexican resort town. 
Summoned to her aunt's Garden District home from an institution, the young girl unravels a 
painful, hypnotic portrait of loneliness.
                             (MORE)
TENNESSEE WILLIAMS FESTIVAL ON THE NORTH SHORE -- Add One   
Appearing as the ruthless Mrs. Venable  is Maggie Eldred, who appeared as Amanda Wingfield
in the Dog & Pony production of "The Glass Menagerie" last spring. Diana Shortes performs the
role of Catharine Holly, and Scott M. Jefferson appears as Dr. Cukrowicz. Shortes and Jefferson
were last seen in Dog & Pony's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" this past fall.  Cecile Casey
Covert and David Reichard appear as Mrs. Holly and George Holly.  Luis Q. Barroso is Mr.
Foxhill and Carolyn Barrois is Sister Felicity.  
     The production is directed by John Grimsley with costume designs by Cecile Casey
Covert.
     Jack Bedell, a member of Southeastern's English Department faculty and editor of the
university's "Louisiana Literature" magazine, said the Tennessee Williams Festival on the North
Shore readings are scheduled for the university's Clark Hall Gallery.
     Paul Ruffin will read from his new novel, "Pompeii Man," at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday,
March 21. Ruffin is the author of four collections of poetry, two books of stories and has edited
or co-edited eight other books. He teaches at Sam Houston State University, where he edits "The
Texas Review" and directs Texas Review Press.
     "Pompeii Man" is the first novel published by Southeastern's Louisiana Literature Press.
     A native of Havana, Cuba, Suarez, will present a reading at 2 p.m., Monday, March 25.
He is a Louisiana State University graduate and currently an associate professor of creative
writing at Florida State University. Although educated in the United States from the age of 12,
Suarez has been preoccupied with the themes of immigration, exile, and acclimatization to life
and culture in the United States. 
     He is the author of several successful novels and numerous stories, translations, essays,
and poems. His most recent publication is a collection of prose and poetry titled "Spared Angola:
Memories From a Cuban-American Childhood," which "Publishers Weekly" called "a tough
little nugget of a book that sparkles."
     For additional information on the Tennessee Williams Festival on the North Shore, call
Bedell at 985-549-5756 or the Columbia/Fanfare office at 985-549-2333.
                             -SLU-
Press release available online at www.selu.edu/news/spring02.html